Amperometric determination of total cholesterol in serum with use of immobilized cholesterol esterase and cholesterol oxidase

Cholesterol esterase and cholesterol oxidase were immobilized on octyl-agarose gel, activated with cyanogen bromide and placed in a reactor. The sensor system for total cholesterol was assembled with the immobilized enzyme reactor, a hydrogen peroxide electrode and a peristaltic pump. Characteristics of the sensor system were investigated by using cholesterol palmitate as a standard substrate. A linear relationship was obtained between peak current and cholesterol palmitate concentration below 1000 mg dl^-1 (10.3 mM). A 10-μl sample could be assayed in 5 min. Total cholesterol in human serum was determined in the range 100–400 mg dl^-1. The standard deviation for the determination of 50 samples of 300 mg dl^-1 was 6 mg dl^-1 (2%). The system was used for 300 assays without loss of enzymatic activity. The correlation coefficient was 0.94 for 27 samples of human sera analyzed by the system proposed and by the conventional chemical method.